LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Maybe this move to the New York Knicks will be the move that enables Kenny Payne to get the opportunity he has never gotten in college basketball, even from his alma mater, the University of Louisville -- the chance to be a head coach.
Notice that I did not say earn the opportunity because Payne earned the opportunity by grinding to the absolute top of the assistant coaching profession long ago.
I said get the opportunity.
What Payne needs is an organization to believe in him as much as John Calipari believed in him the last 10 years.
Power Five major college basketball programs have not been motivated to entrust head coaching positions to many African-Americans who do not have head coaching credentials.
Payne will turn 54 in November. He's been ready to run a program for at least a half-dozen years. Head coaching jobs have turned over at Ohio State, Georgia, Indiana, Minnesota, Illinois, Florida, LSU, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Alabama, Texas A&M and Louisville, where Payne played from 1985-89.
Payne had a serious interview with Mississippi State in 2012. He had an obligatory phone call from U of L in 2018. Payne had legitimate interest from mid-major spots but those jobs never interested Payne, professionally or financially, as much as his position as Calipari's top assistant in Lexington. Many say he was the highest paid assistant coach in college basketball.
But his considerable credentials were never enough to convince an athletic director to recruit him for a Power Five job. College basketball failed him.
"The thing about Kenny most people don't know is that he has been respected across the NBA as much as he's been respected in college basketball," said Milt Wagner, Payne's friend and teammate on Louisville's 1986 NCAA title team.
"When people in the NBA want to know about a college player, they call Kenny Payne. And not just about Kentucky players. Any player. Nobody is more plugged in."
That is true. Always has been true.
Without an NBA Draft combine or individual workouts since the end of the college season because of the novel corona virus, Payne has taken multiple calls from NBA scouts. They asked him questions about players like Jaden McDaniels of Washington, Jordan Nwora of Louisville and others.
Payne's strengths are player evaluations and relationships. That's certainly part of the reason Payne is bound for Madison Square Garden as the first announced hire on the staff new coach Tom Thibodeau is building with the Knicks.
Yes, Payne is best friends with William Wesley, the Knicks' new executive vice president. Yes, Payne is also close with former Ballard High School star Allan Houston, the Knicks' special assistant to general manager Leon Rose.
Houston's father, Wade, recruited Payne to Louisville (over UK) in 1985 from Laurel, Miss., and has remained a lifelong mentor.
But friendship does not explain why the Knicks hired Payne or why Payne finally decided to leave a job that he loved at Kentucky.
The Knicks want Payne because of the tireless work he did with big men like Julius Randle, Willie Cauley-Stein, Karl Anthony Towns, Bam Adebayo, P.J. Washington and, of course, Kevin Knox, a player New York drafted in the first round two years ago.
All those guys and many other Kentucky players (especially Devin Booker) are Payne's biggest fans. Whenever Payne has been mentioned for a job, the players and their parents have mobilized to assist his chances.
It never worked.
Payne was never able to overcome his lack of head coaching experience.
Now Payne goes to one of the most glamorous and underachieving franchises in the NBA. The Knicks delivered the sixth-worst record in the NBA this season.
The Knicks have not made the playoffs since 2013. They have not made the Eastern Conference finals since 2000. They have not won an NBA title since 1973.
The Nets, not the Knicks, are the team that recruited free agents Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving last summer. Payne can change that.
If Payne can help Thibodeau make it there, he should be able to go anywhere.
And what happens to Kentucky?
Bruiser Flint is reportedly the pick. He's a former head coach, who whiffed at UMass and had spotty success in a long career Drexel. His recruiting work at Indiana in three seasons was ordinary at best. Flint was not landing the kind of players that Calipari expects at Kentucky.
But Flint assisted Calipari at UMass and the men are extraordinarily close.
He's a good fit but Bruiser Flint does not have the resume as a developer of big men or as a recruiter than Kenny Payne developed at Kentucky.
Now Kenny Payne will take that resume to New York, New York. Maybe reviving the Knicks can get Payne the head coaching opportunity that he should have gotten from college basketball.
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